New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said as many as 3.86 crore Aadhaar letters are in the process of being dispatched while 6.46 lakh cards could not be delivered by the postal department due various reasons such as incomplete address.

As on April 20, 2012 a total of 17 crore Aadhaar numbers had been generated and 10.44 crore have been dispatched, Minister of State for Planning Ashwani Kumar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

"Out of these (10.44 crore letters), 6.58 crore Aadhaar letters have been delivered as reported by India Post and the remaining 3.86 crore letters are in transit," Kumar, who is also Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Science said.

He further said that as per the portal of the Department of Posts, the total returned letters as on April 20, 2012, stood at 6.46 lakh. This is 0.98 per cent of total Aadhaar letters delivered.

"There are five reasons for returned letters -- refused, deceased, insufficient address, addressee cannot be located and unclaimed," he said adding there was no bogus Aadhaar registrations.

"The letter being returned are having clear remarks of the concerned postman of the area and they are one of the five mentioned reasons...," he said.

Mandate of UIDAI is to issue Aadhaar numbers to all residents of India.

Aadhaar aims to provide a identity infrastructure which can be used to improve delivery of public services. (Agencies)